How to be a Parent
by PumpkinJellicle
Summary: There are certain guidelines to follow when raising kittens, but Jennyanydots didn't quite get the hang of it.


**Happy 2016 lovelies! I had the idea for this for a while, just a little oneshot about dearest Jenny. What if she isn't as happy as she lets on?**

 **I hope you enjoy!**

* * *

How to be a parent:

\- Teach your kittens manners, to use please and thank you and know how to share.

-Make sure they keep their whiskers straight and always wash behind their ears.

-If they are rowdy use a fitting punishment, such as den confinement or taking away their favourite toy for a week.

-Teach them right and wrong. Do not allow them to break or steal or fight.

If you follow these four simple steps you shall raise respectable and charming kits. 

If only it was that easy.

* * *

The early morning peace was broken by a loud crash. Jennyanydots rubbed her eyes and sighed. Why did she ever expect any different?

She stroked her mates head fur and sat up, there was no need to wake him too. He often worked late at the railway station, he needed as much sleep as he could get.

Jenny walked over to the den entrance and counted down from five, and right on cue her twins came bounding in, laughing until they caught sight of their mother.

"Oh!" Rumpleteazer cried, clutching her brothers arm, who was struggling to keep a straight face.

The kits had been trouble ever since they were old enough to go out by themselves. No matter how often she scolded them or tried to seek advice from other mothers, such as Jellyorum, they simply refused to behave.

"What did you do?" She asked sternly, crossing her arms over her chest.

The calico pair shared a glance before deciding they shouldn't lie to her. "Well ya see-" Mungojerrie began.

"You." Jenny corrected, as if it wasn't too late to correct their English. "And keep it down, your father's sleeping."

The young tom looked over to see that Skimbleshanks was indeed asleep, and from past experience he knew it wasn't wise to wake him. His mother was strict but Skimble was worse.

"-we was just playin' chase an' Teazer got her leg caught in a pan an' went flyin'" He smirked at the memory.

"Yeah but then Jerrie went to see if I was alrigh' but 'e's such a lump 'e knocked down everythin'!" Rumpleteazer added, not wanting to end up with all the blame.

Jenny sighed for the second time that morning. "And where was this?"

The twins looked down guiltily. "Mister Bustopher's place." They said together.

 _Of all the cats!_ Jennyanydots thoughts. "Right. You are both going to go out there and apologise. You probably gave the poor dear a fright!"

"But-!" Teazer protested.

" _And_ you are going to help Bustopher Jones tidy his den up. Then you are going to come straight home. Understand?" She fixed them with a stern look.

"Yes mum." The mumbled before heading back outside, tails dragging on the floor.

As soon as her kittens were out of sight she sat herself down on an old wooden chair. "My goodness.." She muttered, pushing her head fur back as she did whenever she was stressed.

She felt a paw on her shoulder, she looked round to see Skimbleshanks smiling down at her. "You heard all that?" She asked hesitantly.

The railway cat nodded solemnly. "Aye, but it's alright. I'll give them a good telling off if they don't fix Jones' den properly."

It had been the first time in a few days the twins had caused some kind of commotion, he had enjoyed the break. But it wasn't worth getting angry at them over something, by his kittens standards, small.

Jenny smiled and stood up, giving his head a quick nuzzle with her own before heading to their makeshift kitchen area to prepare breakfast, thinking for the hundredth time how did raising her kittens go so wrong?

* * *

"Very good!" Jennyanydots beamed at the eager mice who were showing their teacher their work.

She was older now, her kittens were adults themselves and lived in a den of their own. Skimbleshanks still worked at the railways station, less hours than he did before.

With more free time on her paws, Jenny took on the shared responsibility of taking care of the health of the Jellicles along with her kitten-hood friend, Jelly. It still left her with plenty of time to spare so most days she found herself teaching the mice various crafts or helping the cockroaches find jobs to distract them from their urge to destroy everything in their path.

She enjoyed her work and the tribe loved her for it. However as happy as she was there was a reason behind all her hard work. A secret she wouldn't dare tell another cat.

As much as the Jellicles loved her and how, for the most, part they enjoyed Rumpleteazer's and Mungojerrie's antics, Jenny still felt she had failed as a mother. As a kit she had had such high expectations of the mother she wanted to be. She would raise the most perfect and polite kittens. Yet try as she might she never managed it.

Teaching these mice to become respectable was her way to prove to herself that she could do it, that she wasn't a terrible mother after all. It had been a struggle at first, she couldn't get the cockroaches to listen to her let alone behave. The mice and been scared and those who weren't were more interested in chewing through the wool rather than knitting with it.

But she persisted and eventually succeeded. It helped ease the disappointment she felt with herself, but every time the twins returned from one of their raids or got up to some mischief she was reminded of how she had let them down.

* * *

"I think we gotta do somethin' for ma." Mungojerrie said out of the blue one evening as the pair lounged about on the faux fur rug they had stolen from their owners neighbour the day before.

"Like wha'?" Teazer sat up and looked over at her brother.

They knew exactly what their mother thought of their behaviour, but a life time of mischief was hard to give up. However it didn't stop the feelings of guilt every time she caught them doing something bad, not that she told them off any more. Not even Skimble stepped in these days.

"Dunno..." He replied, earning a whack round the head.

"Think before you say stuff." She scolded.

They were silent for a minute before Teazer spoke up again. "I got an idea!" Jerrie sat up beside her expectantly. "Decorate!"

"Not bad." The tom nodded.

"Not bad?! Its pure genius tha's what it is!" 

The following day Rumpleteazer went to see her dad at the railway station while Mungojerrie went and fetched/ stole the supplies they needed to decorate their parents den.

"Teazer!" Skimbleshanks face lit up as he saw his daughter strolling towards him. She returned the smile, she had always loved seeing her dad at work,watching how he wore his waistcoat with pride and kept an eye on cat and human alike.

"Alright?" She grinned, giving him a quick hug. "I gots a favour to ask."

"Anything for my favourite daughter."

"Dad, I'm your only daughter." Teazer laughed. "Right okay this is a big job can ya handle it?"

Skimble nodded, wondering what on earth his daughter could possibly want that couldn't have waited until the evening.

"You gotta keep ma away from ya den later, okay? Me an' Jer have a secret plan!" She explained excitedly.

Her father narrowed his eyes, every time the twins had had a plan to do something it never ended well. But he agreed nonetheless, just in case they managed to pull whatever it was off.

"Done." He mock saluted her.

Rumpleteazer smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "Thanks pa!" She sung before making her way back to the junk yard to help Mungojerrie with the decorating.

* * *

Jenny found herself extra busy that evening, usually she took Friday's to have some time to herself but it seemed that every kitten and their neighbour had a problem they had to come to her for.

Etcy insisted she was sick even though half an hour before Jenny had seen her parading around the junk yard with Electra on her shoulders. Victoria came crying because she had pulled a muscle while dancing, even Jemima stopped by the old tire where the queen relaxed to tell her about her day in very fine detail.

She loved the kittens dearly but she really wanted to go back to her den and spend quality time with Skimbleshanks, she had hardly seen him all evening.

It had been the tom himself that had put the kittens up to keeping Jenny busy, it had only taken the promise of a ride on the train to get them to agree.

While his mate was kept far from their den he observed Jerrie and Teazer to make sure they didn't actually wreck anything with their good intentions. He turned a blind eye to the fact they probably damaged human property getting the decorations, they were doing it for a good cause after all.

Just after sundown he got the okay from the twins to go and get Jenny. He entered the clearing and walked up to his mate and took hold of her paw and bowed.

"Evening." He smiled.

The kittens dispersed when they saw him, saying things like "see you on the train Mr Skimble!" or "have fun with your plan!"

Jennyanydots glanced suspiciously at him. "What was that about?" She asked, although her mate pretended not to hear her as he lead her back to their den.

He let go of her paw when they reached the entrance, stepping back with a polite "after you," and letting her go in first.

All suspicions were forgotten when Jenny stepped inside. The den had been transformed. The rug that had previously been in the twins den was spread out over the bed area. Her old blankets had been replaced with new ones topped with comfy looking pillows.

The rickety chairs had also been replaced by sturdy ones made of dark wood. And there was a shelf propped up against the side where all of her usually scattered notes sat neatly amongst some books.

Finally to top it off, battery powered fairy lights were strung up on every wall and right in the middle stood Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer with huge grins on their faces.

"Oh." Jenny was lost for words.

"Do ya like it?" Jerrie asked, still smiling. "We know ya tried so hard to make good of us. An' really, we mostly are!"

"We love ya ma." His sister added.

"Oh my dears.." Jenny was tearing up. "Come here." She cried, embracing the twins in a big hug. "Thank you."

Skimbleshanks joined the huddle, wrapping his arms around his family, unable to stop smiling.

Jenny nuzzled her kits, overwhelmingly happy. _Maybe I didn't do such a bad job after all._

* * *

 **Thank you so much for reading!**

 **I bet Jerrie wasn't too happy about giving up their new rug for their parents!**

 **Please let me know what you thought~**


End file.
